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quickmanualguide1
2 typography manual
typography manual 3
WHAT’S IN A LETTER
Every serious subject has a language of its
own. Typography is no exception. The
following diagram shows a few terms used to
talk about letter forms. Many more appear in
the Glossary of Typographic Terms at the end
of this document. These terms let you discuss
type like an expert.

SERIF AND SANS SERIF

The serif, or cross-line at the end of a stroke,
probably dates from early Rome.
Father Edward Catich proposed in his
seminal work, The Origin of the Serif, that
the serif is an artifact of brushing letters onto
stone before cutting them. Serif types are use-
ful in text because the serifs help distinguish
individual letters and provide continuity for
the reader’s evvye.
Serifs come in many styles. Compare the
tapered serifs of Kepler® to the slab serifs
of Chaparral® and the wedge serifs of
Warnock. ™

Typefaces without serifs are called sans serif

(sans is French for without) designs. The first
sans serif type design is credited to William
Caslon in England in 1816. Sans serif designs
are also sometimes referred to as gothic or
grotesque designs.

4 typography manual
X-HEIGHT
Traditionally, x-height is the height of the lower case letter x. It affects the feel of a typeface, how
many characters fit on a line, and depending on how the type is set, how easily your text can be
read. At very small point sizes, a font with a larger x-height is easier to read, everything else being
equal. Compare the following examples of Adobe Jenson,™ Utopia,® and Minion,® all at a
point size of 10:

You can’t really talk about type without talking

about x-height. Simply put, x-height is the height
of the lowercase letters, excluding the ascenders
and descenders. Unlike point size, x-height is not
a unit of measurement. Rather, it’s a proportional
description of the lowercase letters. A typeface with
a large x-height simply means the lowercase letters
are proportionally large in relation to the ascenders
and descenders.
Adobe Jenson 10-point type/ 13-point leading (10/13)

You can’t really talk about type without talking about

x-height. Simply put, x-height is the height of the lowercase
letters, excluding the ascenders and descenders. Unlike
point size, x-height is not a unit of measurement. Rather,
it’s a proportional description of the lowercase letters. A
typeface with a large x-height simply means the lowercase
letters are proportionally large in relation to the ascenders
and descenders.

Utopia 10/13

You can’t really talk about type without talking

about x-height. Simply put, x-height is the height
of the lowercase letters, excluding the ascenders
and descenders. Unlike point size, x-height is not
a unit of measurement. Rather, it’s a proportional
description of the lowercase letters. A typeface
with a large x-height simply means the lowercase
letters are proportionally large in relation to the
ascenders and descenders.
Minion 10/13

typography manual 5
MEASURING TYPE
To understand how type works, you must know how it is measured. Basically, typefaces are meas-
ured in two ways: height and width.

Type Height
In earlier times when type was cast in metal, it was sold in dis crete sizes that were mea s ured in
points. Today’s digital fonts can be enlarged or reduced by simply selecting, or specifying, a point
size.
Originally, the term point size referred to the height of the metal body that held the characters.
This was slightly larger than the distance from the highest to the lowest feature in the design.
A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or .01384 inch. With the advent of desk-
top publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. Picas are another unit of measurement
used for type; one pica equals 12 points, and six picas equal an inch.
This method of measuring is still used for digital type. Typefaces that have very long ascenders
and descenders look smaller than other typefaces when both are printed at the same point size.
This incongruity is illustrated below.

26pt Postino
26 Point Bickham Script Pro

Type Width
To understand how type works, you must know how it is measured. Basically, typefaces are meas-
ured in two ways: height and width.

Bowlby One Condensed

Bowlby One Extended

6 typography manual
VARIATIONS ON A THEME
A type family generally contains three variations on the regular face: italic, bold, and bold italic.
However, many families have been designed to include variation in weight from ultra light to
ultra black; variation in width from condensed to extended; multiple character sets, such as small
capitals, titling capitals, swash capitals, oldstyle figures, alternates; and more.
This variety enables you to achieve just the look you want and allows for a good deal of flexi-
bility. For example, it is often necessary to make a given amount of type fit into a predeter mined
amount of space on the page. When space is an issue, a condensed or extended version of a type-
face can be a real lifesaver!

Cambria EB Garamond

Italic Regular
Bold Italic
Bold Italic Semibold
Semibold Italic
Medium
Medium Italic
Bold
Bold Italic
Extra Bold
Extra Bold Italic

typography manual 7
SPACING
Type is defined by the space around it, whether between letters, words, or lines.

Monospaced versus Proportional

Fonts on typewriters were usually monospaced (also known as fixed pitch). Monospaced means
that each character, whether it’s an i or an m, takes up the same amount of space. Monospaced
digital fonts, such as Courier, work well when a mechanical typewriter look is desired or in cases
where characters should line up vertically.

monospaced (im)
propotionally spaced (im)

Today, most of the digital type used on computers is designed to be proportionally spaced. With
proportional spacing, each letter is given just the amount of space it needs to look right and be
most legible. Using a proportional font, you can fit much more text on a page than using a mono-
spaced font while at the same time making the text easier to read.

Line Length
As lines of text get long, it can be difficult for the reader to move from the end of one line to the
beginning of the next. On the other hand, short line lengths break up the text and interrupt the
reader. The ideal line length depends on the design of the typeface, type size, line spacing, and
length of the copy. Generally, a line should have 55 to 60 characters, or 9 to 10 words, for optimal
readability.

8 typography manual
Leading
Leading is the vertical distance between lines of type and is measured in points. During the days of
metal type, printers inserted extra strips of lead between long lines of text to make them easier
to read. This procedure gave rise to the term leading (pronounced ledding). Leading is measured
from the baseline of one line of text to the baseline of the next line of text. Most word processing
and page layout applications let you adjust the leading in your documents.
Experiment with this feature to see how it affects legibility.

Too much leading causes the eye to jump from
line to line and is disruptive to reading. Too
little leading creates dark, uninviting color that
Too much leading causes the eye to jump fro
line to line and is disruptive to reading. Too
little leading creates dark, uninviting color that
may cause the eye to skip a line when scanning
to find the next one.

may cause the eye to skip a line when scanning

to find the next one.

11-point type/ 24-point leading (11/15) 11/11

Word and Letter Spacing

You can also adjust word and letter spacing to improve legibility. Although typefaces are designed
with the correct spacing between characters for general use, special situations can result in the type
looking crowded or too loose. For example, words printed in all UPPERCASE tend to look too
tight because the designer assumed that uppercase and lowercase letters would be mixed. If your
application allows you to adjust letter spacing, you should add a small amount of letter space to
words printed in all uppercase.

LETTERSPACE LETTERSPACE

typography manual 9
 AVOID
Some letter combinations, particularly in
words set in capitals, result in awkward spac-
ing unless they are kerned. Kerning is the

AVOID
adjustment of space between pairs of letters.
Kerning is especially important at large point
sizes. As the characters are enlarged, so is the
space between them.
Word spacing, the space between words,
should be constant in flush left, flush right, or
centered text. However, for justified text, Task Toolkit 118
word spacing varies from line to line to keep
margins even. Task Toolkit 118
To aid readability, it’s important to keep word spacing as consistent as possible — even if it means
hyphenating words. Tight word spacing lets you place more text on the page, but can make it
difficult to distinguish words from each other. Loose word spacing fills up a page with a small
amount of text, but the text becomes harder to read as the words begin to look disconnected.

Uneven word spacing

More consistent word spacing, better typographic color

10 typography manual
TYPOGRAPHIC COLOR
Spacing concerns and the design of the typeface itself affect what is known as typographic color.
This term may seem like a misnomer in an age when even word processors let you apply actual
color (for example, red, blue, or green) to type as easily as changing the point size. Typographic
color is really the grey value, or density, of a mass of type on the page. A page may have light or
dark color, but you must keep the color consistent on the page to aid readability.

Minion 11/14

Myriad 12/14

USING THE RIGHT

CHARACTER
The difference between an amateur-looking document and a professionally produced one can be a
matter of details. The following topics cover some of the most commonly overlooked or incorrect-
ly handled details of typography.

typography manual 11
Italics, Boldface, and Uppercase
Unless you’re indicating text that is hyperlinked, you should avoid underlining text. Underlining
is left over from typewriters, which lacked italics. Sometimes under lining is necessary when no
adequate italic is available. Use italics for emphasis or for proper convention, such as the titles of
books, periodicals, and plays.
If you want something to jump out on the page, try using boldface—but remember, contrast
attracts attention. The bestdesigned pages display a clear hierarchy of information. If you make
everything bold, nothing will stand out. Also, avoid using a bold italic typeface in body text. Usu-
ally bold or italic will be sufficient.
Sometimes, by selecting the bold or italic style option, an application will try to automatically
create a bold or italic version of a typeface if one is not installed on your computer. These comput-
er-generated styles should be avoided. It is always preferable
to use the true bold or italic version of a typeface.
Avoid using all uppercase letters to emphasize text. They aren’t as readable as lowercase letters
and interrupt the flow of the text. When your document calls for all capitals, use a small capital
typeface, such as those included in many Adobe® typefaces.

Regular capitals Small capitals Reduced size capitals

Optical Sizes
High-quality typefaces have always had different designs depending on the point size of the text
to be set. In the days of metal type, each point size had its own unique design that was specifi cally
tailored for its usage. For example, a typeface to be used at 6 point, such as in a photo caption,
would be a bit thicker or denser than a typeface used for a headline set at 72 point. Several of Ado-
be’s OpenType® fonts include four optical size variations: caption, regular, subhead, and display.
Called Opticals, these variations have been optimized for use at specific point sizes. Although the
exact intended sizes vary by family, the general size ranges include: caption (6–8 point), regular
(9–13 point), subhead (14–24 point), and display (25–72 point). Several of Adobe’s Multiple
Master fonts also include the ability to select an optical size.

Warnock Pro Caption

Warnock Pro Reg (text)
Warnock Pro Subhead
Warnock Pro Display
All fonts shown at 30 point

12 typography manual
Getting Your Quotes Right
The neutral quote marks,’ and “, that are accessible from your keyboard are traditionally used to
indicate units of measure. True, or directional, quotes, ‘ ’ and “ ”(sometimes called curly quotes),
should be used whenever possible. Some applications automatically apply true quotes by changing
the application’s preferences.

4’6” = 4 feet, 6 inches

4’6” = 4 minutes, 6 seconds

“Typography is not an independent Art: it is a means

to an end, not an end in itself. It must always be
subservient to the text which is its ‘raison d’être’…”
– HERBERT SPENCER

Using the Experts

Adobe sells a number of expert-set typeface collections. These collections contain many of the less
frequently used characters that add a professional look to your documents, including oldstyle
figures, small capitals, ornaments, and ligatures. For example, you can use f-ligatures, which elimi-
nate awkward character combinations. Compare the fi, fl, ff, ffi, and ffl ligature combinations in
the second line with the individual characters in the first line.

fi fl ff ffi ffl difficult sniffle

fi fl ff ffi ffl difficult sniffle
Adobe’s OpenType Pro fonts typically combine these special expert-set characters and the base
character set in a single font. With an application that supports OpenType features, such as
Adobe InDesign,™ substitution of these characters can be automated.

typography manual 13
Upper- and Lowercase Numbers
When you are setting numbers with lowercase text, it is best to use lowercase numbers. That’s
right! Numbers come in upper- and lowercase versions.
The lowercase versions are often called oldstyle figures, and they contain characters with
ascenders and descenders. Uppercase numbers look fine in spreadsheets and in uppercase text, but
look too large in body text.

Uppercase numerals Lowercase numerals

These numbers, 123 and 456 or 789 and even These numbers, 123 and 456 or 789 and even
0, set in upper case look too large in text. 0, set in lowercase work much better with
text.

Small Capitals
Smaller versions of regular capital letters, called small capitals or small caps, are drawn to have the
same typographic color as the lowercase characters in a typeface, and to be visually appealing when
used alongside lowercase text.
Some applications allow you to apply a small-capitals style to your text. This usually means
that the application reduces the point size of full caps to about the height of the lowercase. The re-
sulting letters are usually too light, even if the application does something like expanding the type
horizontally. Small capitals are useful for section headings or chapter titles, to accent important
words or phrases in mid-sentence, or at the beginning of a paragraph for a lead-in. True small caps
are one sign of a truly professional typesetting job.

Many of Adobe’s OpenType fonts contain small capitals, and applications that support the Open-
Type small caps feature, such as Adobe InDesign, can substitute these letterforms automatically.

14 typography manual
Alignment
The alignment of the text within text blocks contributes to the tone of your documents. When
text is aligned to one margin and ragged on the other, it can create an informal feeling. Left aligned
text is easier to read than right aligned text. Avoid right alignment unless it is appropriate as a
design treatment. Justified text aligns on both the left and right hand sides and is used in news-
papers, newsletters, and traditionally in book work. Justified text is sometimes considered more
formal than ragged text. Not surprisingly, it optimizes the amount of copy you can fit on a page.

The alignment of text
within text blocks contrib-
utes to the tone of your
documents. When text is
aligned to one margin and
ragged on the other, it can
create an informal feeling.
Left aligned text is easier
to read
Left aligned
The alignment of text with-
in text blocks contributes
to the tone of your docu-
ments. When text is aligned
to one margin and ragged
on the other, it can create
an informal feeling. Left
aligned text is easier to read
Justified
The alignment of text
within text blocks contrib-
utes to the tone of your
documents. When text is
aligned to one margin and
ragged on the other, it can
create an informal feeling.
Left aligned text is easier
to read
Right aligned

TYPOGRAPHIC COLOR
Copyfitting is the process of deciding which
typeface, point size, leading (line spacing),
and line length are necessary to fit a certain
amount of text into a given space. With care-
ful planning, these
choices need only be made once, at the begin-
ning of a job. It is important to understand
how each of these choices affects readabili-
ty. In general, text becomes less readable as
the typeface becomes too condensed or too
extended, point size becomes smaller, lead-
ing becomes tighter, or line length becomes
longer.
If you find yourself forced to use 6-point
Helvetica* Compressed Ultra with 6-point
leading, it is time to start editing!

typography manual 15
CHOOSING AND USING
TYPEFACES
With literally thousands of typefaces readily available it would be logical to ask “How do I go
about choosing (and using) the best typeface—or combination of typefaces—for my publica-
tion?” Unfortunately, there’s no simple and quick answer to this question— the choice of what’s
best will vary with several factors, including the intended audience and their aesthetic values, the
tone or attitude you’re trying to convey, the medium you’re designing for, and the content of the
publication.
The following guidelines give only a very brief overview of a complicated and subjective top-
ic—entire books have been dedicated to it. But if you combine the following guidelines with
your own aesthetic values and common sense you’ll probably avoid making those formal wedding
invitations look like a ransom note. Unless, of course, that’s how you want them to look!

Choosing Text Fonts for Body Copy

Extended blocks of text, or body copy, are written (presumably) with the intention of being read.
Choosing the wrong font can make a section of text dramatically harder to read. Generally, serif
text fonts are dramatically easier to read than sans serif text fonts. Studies (see Type and Layout
by Colin Wheildon, Strathmoor Press) have shown that more than five times as many readers will
show good comprehension of a block of text when a serif text font is used instead of a sans serif
text font.
Does this mean that all copy must look the same? Not at all. Within the category of serif text
fonts there are many distinct options. The typeface Times differs dramatically from Kepler,
Adobe Jensen, Ellington,® Chaparral, Bembo,® Utopia, or ITC Veljovic®—to name just a few!

While some of the differences between serif text fonts seem almost insignificant when single words
are isolated, each of these fonts has a distinct look and feel when applied to extended copy. Some
look more (or less) modern, formal, or just better than others in a given situation. Having a wide
variety of serif text faces to choose from means that you’ll be able to most effectively convey
the intended message of any publication or document.

16 typography manual
Choosing Fonts for Headlines
You have many more options in style and flavor when choosing fonts for headlines. Headlines
are arguably the most important part of a publication —whether or not they’re understood at a
glance can determine if anything else is read (or looked at), regardless of how easy or hard it is to
read the remaining information. Considerations beyond readability —such as the publication’s
style, content, or other design considerations —will also affect your choice of headline fonts.

Serif versus Sans Serif

There is virtually no difference in the readability of headlines set in serif versus sans serif typefaces
(see Type and Layout by Colin Wheildon, Strathmoor Press). Other typographic considerations,
such as whether or not the headline is set only in capitals versus mixed (upper- and lowercase) will
have a more dramatic impact than whether or not your typeface has serifs. Headlines that are set
in capitals are significantly harder to read than those of mixed case.

HEADLINES SET IN ALL CAPS Headlines Set in All Caps

ARE SIGNIFICANTLY HARDER TO are Signifi cantly Harder to Read
READ THAN MIXED CASE than Mixed Case

Display and Decorative Typefaces

Many display and decorative typefaces are
eye-catching and visually pleasing, but can be
hard to read. Should they be used in head-
lines? If you consider readability alone —
probably not. But many display and decora-
tive typefaces are very effective at attracting
attention — which may be your main goal
when you are designing for competitive spaces
such as magazine layouts. You must balance
readability with the attention-grabbing ability
of a display or decorative typeface.
Having a wide variety of display and deco-
rative typefaces to choose from will keep your
creative options open and help ensure
that you can convey the intended message of
the publication.

typography manual 17
COMBINING TYPEFACES
IN A PUBLICATION
Almost all publications will contain headlines and body copy, or at least subordinate textual
information. Commonly you’ll need or want to use different typefaces for the various levels of
information in the publication. This presents a new problem—how do you effectively combine
typefaces within a publication?
There are several possible outcomes when you combine typefaces in a publication—they may
complement one another, contrast with one another, or conflict with one another. The first two
outcomes are usually good, the last one is usually bad. Here are a few guidelines to help you
choose:

• Avoid using an excessive number of typefaces in a single publication. Some experts recom-
mend using no more than two typefaces on a single page, while others set the number slight-
ly higher. Judicious use of typeface variety helps the reader sort information and navigate
through a document. Too many competing faces create chaos.
• Avoid using two or more similar fonts on a page. Selecting fonts that are not different enough
can cause conflict. For example, it’s usually a poor idea to use two script typefaces on a single
page, or a script face and an italic, or two different slab serifs, or two different old faces, etc.
• Remember that fonts are part of the overall design of a publication and should be chosen to
match (or contrast with) the design style of the publication. Readability is important, but so
is design!

ADDITIONAL TIPS
Bullets
A single, consistently used graphic element
can add flavor to your document and high-
light key points. Instead of the standard
bullet, look through symbol faces for an
ornament that matches your message. If your
document is clean and simple and you have
only a few bullet points, an ornament will add
interest. Be careful not to clutter your docu-
ment.

18 typography manual
Hanging Indents
• When a bulleted or numbered list contains items that run to more than one line, it is common
to hang the text from a bullet or number.

1. The hanging indent more clearly marks the item in the list. A paragraph may also be hung
from the first line of text (often with a run-in head of small caps, bold, or italic) when no
bullet or number is present.

Reversed Text
For print publications, white text on a black background should be used sparingly, and never at
small sizes. Similarly, for web projects and video titling jobs, white text on a black background is
an effective way to grab attention, and works well when there is a minimum amount of text.

Reversed Type
Avoid reversing small type or type with thin strokes
or serifs that may fill in. You may want to letterspace
bold, condensed faces slightly.

Using Styles
Styles are paragraph descriptors that specify, for example, what font to use and how much to
indent. If your design application supports styles, you can build a set to give all your documents a
consistent look.
When styles are applied to your documents, you can easily change the entire look of a docu-
ment just by changing the style definitions.

typography manual 19
Keeping It Simple
Good document design is mainly a combination of common sense and keeping things simple.
Look at attractive examples of documents that are similar to what you’re trying to create.
The following list explains some basic rules.

• Long lines of text are hard to read. Generally, a line should have 55 to 60 characters, or 9 to 10
words. Try multiple columns or, if you are stuck with a long line length, increase the leading
slightly to make it easier for the eye to move from line to line.
• White space on the page makes your document cleaner-looking and easier to read.
• Use indents and bullets to highlight important points. Use headings and subheadings to help
your readers find the information they’re interested in.
• Avoid using more than two type families on a page. Generally one serif and one sans serif
make a nice mix. Using the sans serif for head lines and the serif for body text is a common and
effective formula.
• Use italics or bold to highlight words and phrases, rather than using all uppercase. All upper-
case is hard to read.
• Left justification can be easier to read and looks less formal than full justification. Pick the
alignment option that matches the tone of your document.
• Graphs, pictures, and charts add interest to your documents and clarify your text. Horizontal
and vertical lines can be used sparingly to break up blocks of text.

20 typography manual
GLOSSARY OF
TYPOGRAPHIC TERMS
This section provides a small glossary of terms frequently used in the type world.

alignment The positioning of text within the text block or frame. Align-
ment can be flush left, flush right, justified, or centered. Flush left
and flush right are sometimes referred to as left justified and right
justified.

ascender The part of lowercase letters (such as k, b, and d) that

ascends above the x-height of the other lowercase letters in a font.

Adobe Type Manager® ATM Light is a system software

(ATM®) component for the Windows® and Mac OS platforms that
automatically generates high-quality bitmapped character shapes
on a computer monitor from PostScript® Type 1 or OpenType
outline font data. ATM Light also allows you to print PostScript
fonts on non-PostScript printers. ATM Deluxe is Adobe’s per-
sonal font management application.

baseline The imaginary line on which the majority of the characters in a

typeface rest.

body text The paragraphs in a document that make up the bulk of its con-
tent. Body text should be set in an appropriate and easy to read
face, typically at 10 or 12 point size.

boldface A typeface that has been enhanced by rendering it in darker,

thicker strokes so that it will stand out on the page. Headlines
that need emphasis should be boldface. Italics are preferable for
emphasis in body text. Some publishing applications allow you
to apply a computer-generated, or fake, bold style to a regular
weight font. Using this technique is not recommended.

bullet A dot or other special character placed at the left of items in

a list to show that they are individual, but related, points.

cap height The height from the baseline to the top of the uppercase letters
in a font. This may or may not be the same as the height of as-
cenders. Cap height is used in some systems to measure the
type size.

typography manual 21
centered Text placed at an equal distance from the left and right margins.
Titles are often centered. It is generally not good to mix centered
text with flush left or flush right text.

character, character code A single letter, punctuation mark, number, space, or any other
object or symbol in a typeface set. In the context of modern
computer operating systems, it is often defined as a code with a
meaning attached to it. For example, the decimal character code
97 represents the letter a. Also see character encoding, keyboard
layout, OpenType, Unicode.

character mapping See character encoding.

character encoding A table in a font or a computer operating system that maps

character codes to glyphs in a font. Most operating systems are
moving from a platform-specifi c single-byte encoding system
that limited the number of possible glyphs in a font to 256 to a
new two-byte international encoding standard called Unicode.
Unicode allows for the inclusion of up to 65,000 glyphs in a sin-
gle font. Adobe’s OpenType fonts are based on Unicode.
Also see character, glyph, keyboard layout, Unicode.

color See typographic color.

condensed A narrower version of a font, used to fit a maximum number of

characters into a given space.

contrast A subjective feeling that graphic elements (such as fonts)

are different but work together well. This gives a feeling of variety
without losing harmony. Within a particular font, contrast also
refers to the differences of stroke thicknesses that make up the
characters. For example, Myriad has low contrast and Bodoni
has high contrast.

copyfitting The process of adjusting the size and spacing of type to make it
fit within a defined area of the page.

decorative font An appearance-based or usage-based category of fonts. Decora-

tive fonts are often ornate and attention-grabbing. In her book
The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Robin Williams has provided a
useful working definition of a decorative font:
“...if the thought of reading an entire book in that font makes
you wanna throw up, you can probably put it in the decorative
pot.”

descender The part of lowercase letters (such as y, p, and q) that descends

below the baseline of the other lowercase letters in a font. In
some typefaces, the uppercase J and Q also descend below the
baseline.

22 typography manual
dingbats Symbol characters such as decorations, arrows, and bullets.

display fonts Another category of fonts with characteristics similar to deco-

rative fonts. In some typeface families, a font is categorized as a
display font when it has been specifically designed for larger sizes
(usually over 24 points) with thinner strokes, more delicate serifs,
etc.

dpi An abbreviation for dots per inch. Refers to the resolution at

which a device, such as a monitor or printer, can display text
and graphics. Monitors are usually 72 to 120 dpi or less, and laser
printers are usually 600 dpi or higher. An image printed on a
laser printer looks sharper than the same image on a monitor.

drop cap A design treatment in which the first capital letter of a paragraph
is set in a larger point size and aligned with the top of the first
line. This method is used to indicate the start of a new section of
text, such as a chapter. Also see raised cap.

ellipsis A punctuation character consisting of three dots, or periods,

in a row. It indicates that a word or phrase has been omitted.

em, em space, em quad Common units of measure ment in typography. An em is

tradition ally defined as the width of the uppercase M in the
current face and point size. It is more properly defined as simply
the current point size. For example, in 12 point type, one em is a
distance of 12 points.

em dash A dash the length of an em, used to indi cate a break in a

sentence: His friend — also an editor — thought the same thing.

en, en space, en quad Common units of measure ment in typography. An en is tradi-

tionally defined as the width of the uppercase N in the current
face and the current point size. It is more properly defined as half
the width of an em.

en dash A dash the length of an en, used to indicate a range of values:

1960–1990

encoding See character encoding.

expert set, expert A font that has a more refined, or expanded, set of typographic
collection characters than regular fonts. Expert sets may contain oldstyle
figures, ligatures, small capitals, embellishments, fractions, or
other unique characters. Also see OpenType.

face See typeface.

typography manual 23
family A collection of typefaces that were designed and intended to be
used together. For example, the Utopia family consists of roman
and italic styles, as well as regular, semibold, and bold weights.
Each of the style and weight combinations is referred to as a font
or typeface.

flush left Text that is aligned on the left margin is said to be set flush left or
flush left, ragged right. The term ragged right is sometimes
used alone to mean the same thing.

flush right Text that is aligned on the right margin is said to be set flush right
or flush right, ragged left. The term ragged left is sometimes used
alone to mean the same thing.

font One weight, width, and style of a typeface: Optima* Bold and
Helvetica Light Condensed are examples of fonts. Before digital
type, a font usually referred to a specific point size of a particular
style of a typeface. For example, 48-point Helvetica Bold would
have been considered a font. Today, the terms font, typeface, and
family are often used interchangeably, though family usually
refers to the general type design, such as Helvetica, and font
and typeface usually refer to the specific weight, width, or style
of a type design, such as Helvetica Bold.

font family See family.

glyph In the context of modern computer operating systems, glyph is

often de fined as a shape in a font that is used to represent a
character code on screen or paper. The most common example of
a glyph is a letter in a specific font, but the symbols and shapes in
a font like ITC Zapf Dingbats® are also glyphs. Also see charac-
ter, character encoding, keyboard layout.

hanging indent A document style in which the first line of a paragraph is aligned
with the left margin, and the remaining lines are all indented an
equal amount. This is an effective way to display lists of informa-
tion.

headline The short lines of emphasized text that introduce detail informa-
tion in the body text that follows. Also the category of typefaces
that are designed to work best in headline text.

headline font A font that has been designed to look good at large point sizes
for use in headlines. Headline fonts generally do not contain a
complete set of characters since they do not require a
full set of special symbols and punctuation.

hints The mathematical instructions added to digital fonts to make

them sharp at all sizes and on display devices of different
resolutions.

24 typography manual
italic A slanting or script-like version of a face. The upright faces
are often referred to as roman. Some publishing applications
allow you to apply a computer-generated, or fake, italicized style
to a roman font. Using this technique is not recommended.
Also see oblique.

justified A block of text that has been spaced so that the text aligns on
both the left and right margins. Justified text has a more
formal appearance, but may be harder to read if not properly set.

kerning The adjustment of horizontal space between individual charac-

ters in a line of text. Without kerning adjustments, many letter
combinations can look awkward. The objective of kerning is to
create visually equal spaces between all letters so that the eye can
move smoothly along the text. Some combinations of characters
naturally have excessive space between them (such as Ta or Vo)
and must be manually adjusted by the designer or typographer.
These adjusted combinations are called kerned pairs. Kerning
may be applied automatically by desktop publishing programs
based on tables of values built into the font. Some programs also
allow manual kerning to make fine adjustments. Adjustments in
kerning are especially important in large display and headline text
lines. Also see letterspacing.

keyboard layout, A keyboard layout or mapping is a table used by a computer

keyboard mapping operating system to govern which character code is generated
when a key or key combination is pressed. Sometimes known as a
character mapping. Also see character, character encoding, glyph.

leading (pronounced ledding) The amount of space added between

lines of text to make the document legible. The term originally
referred to the thin lead spacers that printers used to physically
increase space between lines of metal type. Most applications
automatically apply standard leading based on the point size of
the font. Closer leading fits more text on the page, but decreases
legibility. Looser leading spreads text out to fill a page and makes
the document easier to read. Leading can also be negative, in
which case the lines of text are so close that they overlap or touch.

letterspacing Adjusting the average distance between letters in a block of text

to fit more or less text into the given space or to improve legi-
bility. Kerning allows adjustments between individual letters,
letterspacing is applied to a block of text as a whole. Letterspac-
ing is sometimes referred to as tracking or track kerning. Letter
spacing is often adjusted to open up the look of a typeface or to
add drama to a headline by stretching it across a page. Also see
kerning, tracking.

typography manual 25
ligature Two or more letters combined into a single letterform. In some
typefaces, character combinations such as fi and fl overlap, result-
ing in an unsightly shape. The fi and fl ligatures were designed to
improve the appearance of these characters. Letter combinations
such as ff, ffi, and ffl are available in Adobe’s expert
set fonts and in most OpenType Pro fonts. OpenType fonts may
also have other ligatures designed to improve appearance of other
letter combinations (such as Th) or for artistic effect.

multiple master A class of PostScript font developed by Adobe that allows you to
modify and create new fonts based on a particular style. For in-
stance, you could create fonts that are bolder or expanded while
still maintaining the correct proportions, stroke width changes,
and other subtle design characteristics of the original typeface.
Also see PostScript, PostScript Type 1.

oblique A slanting version of a face. Oblique is similar to italic, but

without the script quality of a true italic. The upright faces are
usually referred to as roman. Also see italic.

OpenType A cross-platform font file format developed by Adobe and Mi-

crosoft. OpenType is an extension to the TrueType file format
that can now support PostScript font data and new typographic
features. Based on Unicode, OpenType fonts may include an
expanded character set and layout features to provide richer lin-
guistic support and advanced typographic control. Feature-rich
Adobe OpenType fonts are distinguished by the word Pro,
which is part of the font name and appears in
application font menus. OpenType fonts can be installed and
used alongside PostScript Type 1 and TrueType fonts. Also see
Unicode, TrueType, PostScript Type 1.

optical size A specifi c typeface design that is tailored for the point size it is
to be used at. Several of Adobe’s OpenType fonts include four
optical size variations—caption, regular, subhead, and display—
that have been optimized for use at specifi c point sizes. Although
the exact intended sizes vary by family, the general size ranges
include: caption (6–8 point), regular (9–13 point), subhead
(14–24 point), and display (25–72 point). Several of Adobe’s
Multiple Master fonts also include the ability to select an optical
size.

PFB file The portion of a Windows PostScript Type 1 font that contains
the font’s outline information.

PFM file The portion of a Windows PostScript Type 1 font that contains
the font’s metrics information.

26 typography manual
paragraph rules Graphic lines associated with a paragraph that separate blocks of
text. Rules are commonly used to separate columns and isolate
graphics on a page. Some programs allow paragraph styles to
be created that include paragraph rules above and/or below the
paragraph.

pica A unit of measure in typography. A pica is equal to 12 points.

The traditional British and American pica is 0.166 inches. In
PostScript printers, a pica is exactly 1/6 of an inch.

picture font A font that displays pictures or symbols instead of letters or

characters. Picture fonts are useful for making logos, borders or
interesting bullets. Like clip art, they can also be used as graphic
raw material in some graphics software packages, such as Adobe
Photoshop® or Adobe Illustrator.® Also known as pi fonts,
symbol fonts, and dingbats.

point A unit of measure in typography. There are approximately

72 points to the inch. A pica is 12 points.

point size The most common method of measuring type. The distance
from the top of the highest ascender to the bottom of the lowest
descender in points. In Europe, type is sometimes measured by
the cap height in millimeters.

PostScript Adobe’s mathematically-based page description language that

communicates with your output device and conveys informa-
tion regarding how to create complex letter shapes and graphics.
Developed by Adobe in 1985.

PostScript Type 1 A font format designed to conform to the PostScript page

description language. On Windows, PostScript Type 1 fonts
consist of a PFB file that contains the font’s outline information
and a PFM file that contains the font’s metrics. On the Mac
OS platform, PostScript fonts are composed of screen fonts (or
bitmapped fonts) and printer fonts (or outline fonts). PostScript
fonts require a PostScript printer to render accurately or they can
be printed to a non-PostScript output device using Adobe Type
Manager. Also see PostScript font, Multiple Master.

printer font One of the two components of a PostScript font for the Mac OS.
The printer font contains mathematically-defi ned outlines for
all characters (or glyphs) in that font, and is downloaded to the
printer when that font is used in a document. Also known as an
outline font.

proportional figures Numerals that have different widths depending on their shape.
When setting body text, it is preferrable to use proportional
figures. Also see tabular figures.

typography manual 27
raised cap A design treatment in which the first capital letter of a paragraph
is set in a large point size and aligned with the baseline of the first
line of text. Also see drop cap.

reverse The technique of printing or displaying white or lightcolored

text on a black or dark background for emphasis. This technique
greatly reduces legibility, especially with small type.

rivers Word spaces that align vertically from line to line in poorly justi-
fied text creating a distracting river of white space in a block
of copy.

roman Commonly refers to the upright version of a face within a font

family, as compared to the italic version.

rule A solid or dashed graphic line in documents used to separate the

elements of a page. Rules and other graphic devices should be
used sparingly, and only for clarifying the function of other
elements on the page.

sans serif A typeface that does not have serifs.

screen font One of two components for a PostScript font on the Mac OS
platform. These are created by sending electronic information to
pixels (dots) on the computer screen thus allowing you to view
the font on-screen. Also known as a bitmapped font.

script font Fonts that appear to have been hand lettered with a calligraphy
pen or brush, or sometimes with a pencil or technical
pen.

serif A small decorative stroke at the end of a letter’s main strokes.

Serifs improve readability by leading the eye along the line of
type.

style One of the variations in appearance, such as italic and bold, that
make up the faces in a type family.

symbol font A category of type in which the characters are special symbols
rather than alphanumeric characters.

tabular figures Numerals that all have the same width. This makes it easier to set
tabular matter. Most fonts have tabular figures. Also see propor-
tional figures.

text font Text fonts are used for body copy and are most commonly serif
fonts. In large families of typefaces these are often denoted with
the suffixes regular or book (for example, Utopia Regular or
ITC Veljovic Book).

28 typography manual
tracking Adjusting the average distance between letters in a block of text.
Generally, large type requires proportionally less space between
letters to appear subjectively right visually while small type re-
quires more letter spacing to appear right. Also see letterspacing.

TrueType An outline font technology developed by Apple Computer.

Type 1 See PostScript Type 1.

type family See family.

typeface The letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type.
A typeface is often part of a type family of coordinated designs.
The indiv. typefac are named after the family and are also speci-
fied with a designation, such as italic, bold, or condensed. Ex.: the
italic style of the Times fam. is referred to as a typeface or font.

typographic color The apparent blackness of a block of text. Color is a function of

the relative thickness of the strokes that make up the characters
in a font, as well as the width, point size, and leading used for
setting the text block.

Unicode An international double-byte character encoding standard

that encompasses virtually all of the world’s languages.
Supported by many of the leading hardware and software
manufacturers, Unicode assigns a unique value to each of the
characters (or glyphs) in all of the world’s languages.

unjustified Depending on alignment, this term refers to text that is set flush
left, flush right, or centered.

weight The relative darkness of the characters in the various typefaces

within a type family. Weight is indicated by relative terms such as
thin, light, bold, extra-bold, and black.

white space The blank areas on a page where text and illustrations are not
printed. White space should be considered an important graphic
element in page design.

width One of the possible variations of a typeface within a font family,

such as condensed or extended.

word spacing Adjusting the average distance between words to improve legibil-
ity or to fit a block of text into a given amount of space.

x-height x-height is the height of the lowercase x. It is also the height of

the body of lowercase in a font, excl. the ascenders and descend-
ers. Some lowercase that do not have asc. or desc. still extend a
little above or below the x-height as part of their design.

typography manual 29
FOR FURTHER READING
There are several excellent books that can provide you with additional assistance in choosing and
using typefaces and in making type work better in your designs, including:

Beyond the Mac Is Not a Typewriter by Robin Williams. Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA.

The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams. Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA.

Type & Layout: How Typography and Design Can Get Your Message Across—Or Get in the Way
by Colin Wheildon. Strathmoor Press, Berkeley, CA.

Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann.
Adobe Press, San Jose, CA.

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst.

Hartley &Marks Publishers Inc., Vancouver, BC.

30 typography manual
typography manual 31
 Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Caslon, Adobe Garamond, Adobe Jenson, Adobe Type Manager, ATM, Bickham Script,
Blue Island, Calcite, Chaparral, Cronos, Illustrator, InDesign, Jimbo, Kepler, Minion, Myriad, Photoshop, Postino, PostScript,
Shuriken Boy, Utopia, Voluta, and Warnock are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated
in the United States and/or other countries. Bembo and Ellington are trademarks of the Monotype Corporation registered
in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offi ce and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions. Ocean Sans is a trademark
of the Monotype Corporation and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Caravan Borders, Helvetica, Optima, and Times
are registered trademarks or trademarks of Linotype-Hell AG and/or its subsidiaries. ITC Veljovic and ITC Zapf Dingbats
are registered trademarks of the International Typeface Corporation. Spring is a trademark of LetterPerfect. Celestia is a
trademark of MvB Design. Mac is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S.and other countries. OpenType
and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.and/or other countries.

© 2000 Adobe Systems incorporated. All rights reserved.

32 typography manual